Gratuitous tool usage for mundane purposes

[Ali]

I had to fit a door handle today. It wasn’t even a door handle actually, it was a drawer pull. By way of explanation, my kids pulled the door handle off one of their bedroom doors when ‘playing’ a while ago, and since it’s never closed, I’m planning to replace the cardboard doors this year anyway and I’m not into turd polishing, I just left it. Then my daughter asked Father Christmas for a door handle (must be pink). The big man obviously read my mind and wasn’t going to spend £20+ on a proper door latch assembly and handle which would have needed to be sprayed pink, so she had a simple pair of pink plastic drawer pulls in her stocking, RRP approx £3.50.

So between them pulling the handle off, the poor quality doors, and the monkey that fitted the handles originally using a screwdriver as a chisel, there was a massive wonky hole in the door, and the drawer pulls want screwing in from the other side.

To remedy this I spent half an hour making an acrylic cover for the hole and alu threaded spacer the width of the door, using the following tools (all of which can be found lying around in the average home):

Hacksaw
Lathe
M5 taps
Deburring tool
CNC milling machine
Drill
Screwdriver
Digital caliper
Linisher

What other mundane repairs have you achieved with unnecessary engineering and / or equipment?

 

[roofman]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

 

[julianthegypsy]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

Ooh, I wonder if a donkey saw would work. Got to be worth a try!

 

[Porkypine]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

Now that is simply genius...

 

[stuvy]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

A hot kettle,
Bucket with said contents of kettle
Leave the cans to warm up and it flows beautifully

 

[dobbslc]

A hot kettle,
Bucket with said contents of kettle
Leave the cans to warm up and it flows beautifully

But is a kettle a tool?
It's a grey area...

 

[GRW]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

I've seen online clips where a pipe clamp on a tin, then the threaded fixing is put into the chuck of a pillar drill to mix paint - but as its not offset I wonder if it actually works well.

Thinking on it, a Whacker Plate would probably do a great job of stirring up paint - but the closest I have to one of those would be strapping a tin to the Ford 2.5di engine in my LDV at idle

 

[James1979]

What other mundane repairs have you achieved with unnecessary engineering and / or equipment?

Does using the CNC plasma to cut anything count? I made some 25x3 flat bar the other day rather than nip to town and get a length. As I’m quick on the drawing software, it’s often easier and quicker (and less wasteful) to draw and cut random brackets rather than grinder and drill etc.

Got to count as overkill

 

[8ob]

Used a leaf blower to bleed up a machine the other day that had run out of diesel, it was minus plenty and I wasn’t feeling the love for the hand primer. Poked the blower into the filler neck and sealed around it with a rag, job done in seconds

Bob

 

[Johnnybravo]

Heat gun doubles up as glowplugs, had a mate with a diesel jeep that would only start if you blow dried it’s air intake

 

[123hotchef]

I've seen online clips where a pipe clamp on a tin, then the threaded fixing is put into the chuck of a pillar drill to mix paint - but as its not offset I wonder if it actually works well.

Thinking on it, a Whacker Plate would probably do a great job of stirring up paint - but the closest I have to one of those would be strapping a tin to the Ford 2.5di engine in my LDV at idle

reciprcating saw and a dead blade and cable ties

 

[selectedgrub]

I have been known to microwave clothes to dry them.
You just got to get the defrost setting right.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Heat gun doubles up as glowplugs, had a mate with a diesel jeep that would only start if you blow dried it’s air intake

I remember in the 60s seeing my dads drivers using a burning rag held with a bit of welding rod held over the inlet manifold to start his lorries

 

[GRW]

reciprcating saw and a dead blade and cable ties

Cracking idea.... but I don't currently own an (electric) reciprocating saw.

How about putting a hand sander clamped in a vice, and cable-tying the paint to the workface? (Not a belt sander, obvs )

 

[RobCox]

I put my aerosol paint cans offset in my 3 jaw on the Harrison and put the spindle on slow for a 10 min stir....sometimes i turn metal with it too

Never thought of using the lathe for shaking up rattle cans. I wrap a length of metal banding round the tin, clamp it in the toolholder of my Elliott 10M shaper and set it running for a while.

 

[Johnnybravo]

I have been known to microwave clothes to dry them.
You just got to get the defrost setting right.

Don’t try that with bogroll. Came home from a party having had more than too many wobble pops. Knocked a new bogroll off the toilet cistern into the bowl,before I even had a chance to point Percy at the porcelain. Bright idea, fish it out quick and microwave it. Worked well. Finished ablutions, took warm bogroll out of microwave and placed on top of fridge.Went to bed. Woke up a couple of hours later realising how stupid I had been. If I had known I was going to wake up this thirsty I would have drunk more the night before. Went to the fridge…. Only to find a smouldering roll that had already burnt a ring into the paint

 

[Cobbler]

But is a kettle a tool?
It's a grey area...

Mines chrome!

 

[droopsnoot]

How about putting a hand sander clamped in a vice, and cable-tying the paint to the workface? (Not a belt sander, obvs )

I've seen clips of aerosols being shaken in a hand sander, in fact it might even be in an old Black and Decker manual.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Does using the CNC plasma to cut anything count? I made some 25x3 flat bar the other day rather than nip to town and get a length. As I’m quick on the drawing software, it’s often easier and quicker (and less wasteful) to draw and cut random brackets rather than grinder and drill etc.

Got to count as overkill

I used mine to make some 3×10mm strip. Needed it for some decorative ironwork on the side of a stove and no-one sells it anywhere! Worked a treat and took minutes....after I'd fired up the computer, the compressor, the plasma cutter and the control box and loaded a sheet of 3mm steel... still, I got my steel, and got the stove done for a happy customer and got paid so I'm not sure it counts!

 

[Chippie]

Used my lathe to cobble up a brake caliper wind back tool from some blank material I had in the loose metal box….cheaper than buying one…also made the timing screw in pin (locating tdc for the crankshaft) for doing the fiesta cam belt